Meyferth qualifies as National Merit Semi-Finalist

Monona Grove senior Cameron Meyferth qualified as a semi-finalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP), making him one of the top teenage thinkers in the nation. Three other seniors also received recognition for their high standings in the program.

Every second weekend in October, 1.5 million freshmen through junior students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) to qualify for the program. The scholarship program notifies top 50,000 testers of their qualification in early April.

The following September, the NMSP announces 34,000 qualifiers who will receive commendation for their performance on the test. This year, these two-thirds include seniors Nathan Gruel, Grant Kinsler, and Sofia Linsenmeyer.

“I’m very excited,” Linsenmeyer said, “and I feel really good that I was able to go so far because I wasn’t sure if I would.”

Though they qualify for special scholarships intended for commendation-level students, these students are no longer in the running to be National Merit Scholars. Despite this, they remain positive about their performance.

“Maybe I wish I could’ve been a semi-finalist,” Kinsler said, “but I know that it was only one test, and I understand that it’s still pretty good what I got, and I’m happy with it.”

The remaining 16,000 students, including Meyferth, move on to be semi-finalists. At this level, students are able to apply for various scholarships, and colleges often times offer semi-finalists cheap tuition deals for their accomplishments.

“Hopefully [I’ll] get a big time scholarship to a school, hopefully a full ride,” Meyferth said.

After completing an application about himself, Meyferth has a 94% chance to be a finalist in the program. The NMSP then chooses around half of all finalists to be Merit Scholars. Were Meyferth to be a Merit Scholar, he would be among winners like Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Twilight author Stephanie Meyer.